Less than a month-and-a-half after her wedding, a village woman from Bihar escaped from her in-laws’ place in Haryana after learning that they had sold her off to porn film-makers.

Rita Devi (name changed) arrived at her parents’ house under Taraiya police station in Saran district in a distraught condition, much to the shock of her father, who had seen her married only a month previously.

Hoping that Rita would be happy in a distant place after her marriage, he had arranged her wedding with the help of an acquaintance from Haryana.

The woman’s husband allegedly sold her off after her father proved unable to pay a dowry of Rs 2 lakh cash and a Royal Enfield motorcycle. (Picture for representation only.)

According to a complaint filed by her family with Taraiya police station on Monday, Rita’s marriage was solemnised at a temple on January 8 this year. She subsequently went to live with her husband.

However, things took a turn for the worse only a few days after her wedding.

Rita alleged that her husband and other members of her in-laws’ family started torturing her over her father’s inability to give them a dowry. According to her, her in-laws wanted her father to give away Rs 2 lakh in cash along with a Royal Enfield motorcycle for the marriage, but he was unable to meet their demands because of his financial condition. This soured the relations between the two families.

She said that her in-laws not only taunted her for his father’s inability to provide a dowry, but also started treating her roughly.

“They even made me work as a labourer in the fields,” she said in her complaint.

Rita alleged that her husband, with some help from his sister-in-law, had sold her off to porn film-makers for Rs 7 lakh. One night, she learned that she would be handed over to them the next morning. Panicked, she managed to escape from the house.

After leaving her house, she subsequently travelled all the way to her village in distant Bihar to inform her parents about her ordeal. The police are investigating the case.

A large number of girls from poor families in Bihar are married to youths from Haryana and other places. The police suspect that many of them fall prey to the racket involved in human trafficking across the country.